Pokémon Origins Volume III: The War of Armageddon
by Raikou Rider
Summary: The Beast Riders' duties take them to Sinnoh, north of the Death Frontier past the Ecruteak Mountain Range. But trouble is brewing in regions all over the world. Each individual rider's abilities are put to the ultimate test. Sequel to Volume II.
1. Prologue

Before time began, one being roamed the black void of nothingness. That being was Arceus, one possessing unfathomable power. It was not a white beast as it is depicted to be in the present, nor was it even a spirit; it was more like a god. No one knows the true extent of its power; some believed it to be omnipotent and omniscient. 

At the dawn of time, Arceus began crafting the world. The complete project took it twelve days; three days for the Kanto region in the east, three days for the Johto region in the west, three days for the Hoenn region in the south, and three days for the Sinnoh region in the north.

During the first day of each set of three days, Arceus shaped each of those regions of the world. The red earth had been created. It was a superheated, inhospitable place of nothing but bare rock and oceans. There were still mountains, plateau Arceus reviewed his work the next day, and saw the world was absorbing too much of the sun's radiation for it to be hospitable.

During the second day of the first cycle of days, Arceus surrounded the world with a blue sky and a coat of air today known as the atmosphere. The coat of air blocked the sun's rays in varying amounts, creating the many climates of the world. He saw that the world was still bare, and thus, on the second day of each cycle, created plant life to cover the bare earth. Arceus flew back to see his creation from a distance, and saw it was very good.

During the third and final day of each cycle, Arceus saw there needed to be someone taking care of the world, or it would wither and die. On those days, he populated the world with almost 500 different kinds of Pokémon. He also filled the world with human beings. The humans and Pokémon were just like the rest of Arceus' creation, with one major difference: they had been given a free will. Arceus commanded humans and Pokémon to work together in taking care of the world.

After the twelfth day of creation, Arceus stepped back to look at his work, and saw that it was very good. At the end of that day, the creator of the world entered his creation in the form of a white beast with a yellow ring of power around him. Arceus stood about one-and-a-half times the height of a human. Realizing that after taking on the form of a beast, it could not be omnipresent, it assigned its first and most powerful Pokémon creations to watch over the humans; sixteen Pokémon in all were chosen. Arceus picked those Pokémon due to their resistance to breeding; it took very special conditions for these Pokémon to have offspring. When these special Pokémon watched over the human race, Arceus faded back into hiding, observing the world to see it still functioned as he intended.

Thousands of years later, humans started to bond more closely with Pokémon, and discovered their capabilities--many of them making their lives much easier. Unfortunately one of the discovered capabilites was combat. Shortly afterward, the region of Johto was split in two as it became a war zone. Cities were obliterated, and many lives were lost. As the war escalated and the Pokémon gained more fighting experience, their destructive powers became more potent.

When it looked like Johto would become a wasteland, three legendary Beasts sent by Arceus raced from a small, neutral village known as Ecruteak toward the center of the fighting. Armored humans were mounted on the super-fast Pokémon: one Pokémon wielding powers over ice and water; another capable of spewing bright fireballs; another an incarnation of lightning itself. The lightning Beast sped ahead of the other two so fast, no one except its rider could see it clearly. 150, 200, 250, even up to 300 miles an hour it charged toward the battlefield, eventually ramming into armies of both humans and Pokémon. What remained of the forces tried retreating, but their efforts were futile due to the seemingly supernatural speed of these elemental Beasts.

The intervention of the legendary Beasts quickly forced terms of peace between the two factions, and cities were finally able to be rebuilt without fear of destruction. Arceus was concerned at how the interaction of humans and Pok?on could destroy the entire world. Taking a lesson from the "Beast Riders" as he called them, he searched the world for thirteen other humans, pure of heart, that could bond with the legendary Pokémon and protect the world from future conflicts. Arceus spread the sixteen legendary Pokémon throughout the world, looking for potential guardians from each region.

Thousands of years later, the world had changed almost completely. There had not been a major war for decades. Gone were the small towns and villages; Goldenrod City, just south of Ecruteak, had become a metropolis. It was legal for ten-year-olds to raise Pokémon with assistance from an adult. Battling Pokémon was now considered a sport that tested the bond between trainer and Pokémon. Teenagers moved away from home at a much earlier age to go on journeys across the region. One thing had not changed, however, and that was the order of the legendary Pokémon. Like a dynasty ruling the ancient world, the ability to bond with legendary Pokémon was handed down through the generations by birthright. Some of the lines, however, had been broken by untimely death. In such a case, Arceus would assign one of its closest legendary Pokémon to choose new guardians for them.

Ho-oh chose Josh, Ace, and Aravan to ride the Beasts just like the warriors of eons ago did. They saved the region of Johto from factions seeking to abuse the legendary Pokémon. They saved the region not once, but twice, from different organizations. Reluctant to let Beasts and riders remain together, Ho-oh at first declined to let them stay together without Arceus' consent. Later on, Ho-oh got Arceus' approval, and Beast and rider were bound together for life.

The system of legend and rider held up since the beginning of time. Arceus did well in choosing the humans that would guard the most powerful of Pokémon. Over time, however, the lines between "guardian" and "trainer" have blurred, and the reins of power have shifted. The power in the order of the Legends has slowly shifted out of balance, and climates around the world have started to shift with that balance slowly falling away. With Arceus asleep again, the world is completely in the hands of Legend and rider. With the balance of power upset, it will only take a small spark to ignite an explosive war that would put the entire world at risk of being destroyed.


	2. Chapter 1: Recall

---

A bright rainbow shot across the partly cloudy skies over Ecruteak City. It glowed with such brightness that it seemed to illuminate the entire expanse. Students bursted out of the classroom buildings on campus as classes ending at three o'clock had been dismissed. Pushing and shoving his way through the crowd, Ace was the first one to make it out. "Spring break!!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. The public safety officials near the building turned their heads toward Ace and stared at him with a confused look for a few seconds before watching automobiles and Pokémon come in and out of campus, looking for students violating the speed limit.

After the crowd had cleared, Josh and Aravan exited the west classroom facility. "The usual spot, right?" Aravan asked.

"That's what Ace said," Josh replied. "Ah, spring recess. A whole week to sit back and do whatever the hell we want. At least I can do whatever the hell I want. None of my classes have major projects due in the immediate-term." Josh started walking toward the north at a fast pace, but not fast enough to be mistaken for running. Aravan followed him.

"In a hurry are you?" Suicune's rider teased him. "I don't have any major projects due either, so it's all good."

The two passed the soccer and football fields, which, not surprisingly, were completely empty. "Practices must have been cancelled. No wonder Ace was so excited."

A few hundred feet past the sports fields, the fencing surrounding the west and east sides of campus curved in and stopped at a dense forest. Directly north of the football field was a dirt road cutting into the wooded area. When Josh saw that road and the clearing surrounded by forest, it all came back to him. He started to reminisce about his first day with Raikou; it was that wonderful day two years ago. "Ah, yes...those were the days..."

"Save it for them!" Aravan shouted nearly in Josh's ear, waking him up from his daydream. Shalin and Eron chuckled. The red-armored Ace gave Josh the look of a Misdreavus.

"Where have you been? We've been waiting for you for twenty minutes!" he snapped.

Aravan stepped forward to explain. "We didn't push everyone out of the way like you always do for one, and for two, we stayed back to talk with the professor for a few minutes."

"I was about to call bullshit on you until you mentioned the professor. Okay, that's reasonable, I guess. Now, Josh, continue." Shalin and Eron turned their heads toward Josh, listening intently.

"This is the field I first trained with Raikou in, and Aravan with Suicune. I can still recount what happened to this day perfectly..."

* * *

_"Wait!" Aravan yelled. "Suicune, catch up to him!" The beast followed Josh and Raikou to the spot he had talked about. The two legendary Pokémon were very impressed at how their riders were handling them. When Aravan reached the field, he was surprised at the size of the clearing._

_"You're right, Josh," Aravan said. "This would be perfect for Raikou and Suicune to run. With this large an area, it will still take a while for them to cross it, even at full speed._

_"Josh!" Raikou said directly to his rider._

_"Yes? Do you have an idea?"_

_"This clearing is perfect for our training, Josh. With this much space, I have an idea for speeding up the training process. When I run around this field, I will slowly increase my speed. When you can't take it anymore, say so and I will quit accelerating. Then I will just run around the field, letting you get used to the speed."_

_"That is a great idea!"_

_Aravan and Suicune had a similar discussion regarding their training. Anxious to ride like the wind, Aravan had Suicune summon a large gust of wind behind itself. The water-type cheetah then made a low jump with the wind at its back, causing them to quickly accelerate to roughly forty-five miles per hour. The strong wind remained at Suicune's back, and intensified at the beast picked up even more speed._

_Josh's ride was less dramatic, but he seemed more interested in racing his beast than Aravan did his. They got a much slower start than Suicune, but picked up speed at a higher rate. By the time they caught up to Aravan and Suicune, the two beasts were running at about seventy miles per hour. Though that is fast, the two riders had a long way to go. Shortly after Josh passed Aravan, the speed was too much for either of them to bear. Josh and Raikou fell back, with both beasts leveling off their speed at eighty miles per hour._

_When the two of them reached the end of the field several minutes later, Josh wanted to ask Aravan a question, but he then realized the message would not reach him. The air around them both was moving too fast to hear a conversation. A good fifteen minutes of nothing but fun-filled racing across the field at high speed were Josh's and Aravan's to enjoy._

* * *

"I didn't get the privilege of a joyride when training with Zoltin," Eron recalled, shooting an arrow at a tree branch behind Josh. It cut straight through the branch and fell to the ground.

"Wow," the Raikou rider replied, "that must have been difficult, training in the middle of battle."

"Actually I was just a watch for our squad, so I could ease into my Beast's speed so long as I did my job at the same time. Less a watch, more a spy. The only two things I had to do were gather information and stay out of sight. Other than that I was free to do whatever I wanted up there."

"That's how you got so used to him to quickly. I spent days in this field training with Raikou until I could handle all of his speed. Aravan and Ace too. Speaking of Ace, where is he?"

"He should be sitting right next to me," Shalin answered, then peered to her left. Ace was nowhere in sight. "Wonder what was so important that made him leave?" Josh and Aravan peered around the field, but Ace was nowhere to be found. A few moments after the group resumed chatter, a loud whinny pierced the ears of the four Beast Riders as a Rapidash charged toward Aravan from the east. He dove out of the way, but the fire Pokémon turned around to charge again. Just when the diamond-hard hooves were about to stop Aravan, the Pokémon leaped over him, soaring eighteen feet into the air before coming to a stop. Ace was onboard the Pokémon.

"Wahoo!" Ace yelled after dismounting.

"Next time, could you watch where you're going?!" Aravan hollered back. "You just about crushed my shoulder bone and more!"

"Where were you, Ace?" Shalin asked. "You were sitting next to me one moment. The next, you were gone!"

"Ho-oh summons us," Ace announced. "We must meet at the Tin Tower's peak." The Beast Riders held their weapons to the sky as Eron fired a light arrow straight into the air. The five legendary Pokémon raced into the clearing, awaiting their riders. The chosen mounted theit Beasts and sped out of the field, toward Tin Tower. The Beast Riders chose to take the back roads to avoid the speed-regulated, busy streets of Ecruteak.

Storm clouds started to move in from the northeast at an alarming rate of speed.. Josh could tell something was amiss. "Storms don't come in this fast around here normally. We need to hurry before it starts raining and lightning! Raikou, let's go faster!" Electricity flowed among Raikou's legs as all five Beasts sped toward the tower. Just as Suicune caught up with the other Beasts, the largest lightning bolt Josh had ever seen struck two miles to the east, igniting a large explosion.

"Suicune, change course!" Aravan yelled. The five Beasts made a sharp right turn toward a residential and light commercial district of the city. As the fire loomed closer, they discovered what had been struck--a gasoline station, completely destroyed in the explosion as well as an automotive repair shop to the east of it. The strong northeast wind fanned the flames to the west of the station, threatening many homes and small businesses. When they were a third of a mile from the site, Aravan peered up into the sky. A bird just bigger than Pidgeot circled around the smoke caused by the explosion. Its feathers were colored the two colors of a warning sign--black and yellow. What shocked Aravan more, was a long, yellow cape somehow floating just above the bird.

"Oh my god..."

---


	3. Chapter 2: Life for Terrorism

Puzzled at the sudden attack on his hometown, half of Josh wanted to take his rage out on the yellow bird, and the other half wanted to run away and figure out why it was attacking such a small city. As the avion heard emergency vehicle sirens, it started to create massive wind gusts with its electrically charged wings, fanning the flames closer to a residential area. More small businesses were set ablaze with no time to save anything; they could only be evacuated.

Fire crews released water Pokémon and armed hoses to put the fire out. Dozens of Water Gun attacks were aimed at the blaze. Zapdos turned around to face the emergency rescue crews, and dropped lightning bolts all around them and their Pokémon as a warning sign. More buildings caught fire, including the Ecruteak Dance Hall. "Stop now," the bird's voice boomed, "or you're next!"

The brave firefighters and their Pokémon continued to pour water over the burning buildings. After fifteen additional seconds of warning time, the sky erupted with lightning, and large bolts came crashing down upon the Pokémon and firefighters. Every single one died instantly from the massive electrical assault.

Aravan pleaded with the Beast Riders that they intervene, and they did. The attacking Pokémon turned around to fan the dwindling fire onto the residential area. Several homes caught fire. Suicune fired an Ice Beam from the crystal on its forehead, but with a powerful wing beat, its target surged toward the sky, out of the beam's way. At the very least, it grabbed the bird's attention. It landed in front of the burning buildings, close to Ace and Entei. All five of them recognized the bird as Zapdos, not surprisingly. What made their hearts jump in fear was the yellow cape floating above it.

The bird turned to one side, revealing a female human dressed in yellow robes, wearing said cape. In her right hand, she held a white rod with a large, lightning bolt-shaped jewel at the business end. No one could tell for sure at the moment, but Josh suspected that it was capable of harnessing some kind of lightning magick.

Possibly the biggest shocker of all was the girl's age. She looked even younger than Shalin, yet had already mastered lightning in the same way Josh did with Raikou. She shouted, "Arceus claims what is rightfully his, and you WILL cooperate with him!" Lightning bolts struck all around Ace and Aravan.

Josh stepped up in front of his other four allies, representing them in the conversation. "Okay, first of all, who the hell are you; second, why are you attacking the city; and third, what specifically does Arceus want?"

"In order, I will answer. First, you have no right to know who I am; second, I am attacking the city as a first step to purge the world of idealists like you and your friends; and finally, Arceus wants to restore the balance of the world. Now it is my turn to ask the questions. By whose order do you command your Beasts?"

"Ho-oh's. Has it taken this long for you to learn of this? We've been with the Beasts for two, going on three years now!"

"Arceus grows tired of your insurgence, as do I."

"And what is an unsolicited attack on a city? Is that not insurgence?"

"It is holy war. Enough meaningless talk, en garde!!"

Zapdos flew back into low-lying storm clouds, finding a Beast Rider to put in its crosshairs. "Aravan," Eron started, "you should put out these fires. We'll focus on Zapdos in the meantime. Aravan and Suicune headed toward the raging fires, and the Beast sprayed powerful water blasts all over the blaze. Lightning bolts dropped around the two one time, then ceased as Zapdos centered its attention on the other four Beast Riders.

"Eron, you're key to winning this fight with Zapdos," Shalin reasoned. "You're the only one of us that can reach it reliably. Try to lure them to the ground so we can hit them easier." Eron nodded, then Zoltin took to the air at tremendous speed, flying directly in front of Zapdos while shooting arrows at its face. It dodged Zapdos' counterattacks with bursts of Extreme Speed. With each successive counter, Eron led the bird lower to the ground, when finally, a pair of bolts struck the rider through his back, right over a vein. Blood oozed out of the electrical wound, making a spot on his back look like a giant rash.

Shalin rushed toward the injured Beast Rider and protected him from further attacks as best as she could while tending to Eron's wounds. Zoltin, miraculously, was relatively unharmed after the attack. Midori helped assess Eron's condition. They deemed the injuries to be serious, but not life-threatening. Josh and Ace didn't even notice their comrade fall; the Raikou rider continued to lure Zapdos around while Ace and Entei let loose blasts of fire.

The legendary bird's rider raised her magick rod into the air. Shortly afterward, a lightning bolt struck it, recharging its power fully. She held it at her side, then Zapdos rushed in wild circles around the Beast Riders, making the female dizzy. The rapid twirling of the rod discharged electrical energy in shock waves, knocking the Beast Riders off their mounts. Entei leaped at Zapdos, knocking it and its rider out of the sky and into a vulnerable position on the ground. However, the legend was far from defenseless. It traded blows with Entei, jabbing its beak into the fire-type and slowing its movements with a paralyzing burst of electricity in return for its rival's Flamethrower.

Just as Entei began charging another Flamethrower attack, Zapdos recovered from the first inferno and flew over to where its rider was. The young female jumped back onboard her Pokémon. "It...isn't over!" she yelled laboriously before Zapdos flew back into the thunderstorm, out of sight.

The damage from the lightning strikes and the battle with Zapdos was heavy. Twenty people lost their lives in the blaze, with sixteen more injured. Two homes and four small businesses burned to the ground completely, with many more buildings suffering fire damage. Early estimates put the damage from the lightning strikes in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

When the legendary bird had long been gone, Beasts and riders crowded around Eron. "Are you alright?" Ace asked. With a glow of Suicune's forehead crystal, Zoltin and Eron were bathed in a blue healing light. Eron sat up.

"Depends on your definition of 'alright'," he replied. "I'm going to make it, if that's what you mean. But I feel far from alright; I'm in a great deal of pain."

"Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?" Josh asked.

"Get me back in bed, with a proper wound dressing, before I lose any more blood."

Rather than Eron flying on his own back to campus, Josh propped him up onboard Raikou, in front of him to be sure he kept his balance. When the five arrived at the dormitory, Shalin placed several large bandages over the electrical burns and tears, minizing further blood loss. After the bandages were in place, Eron's head fell into the pollow on the end of the bed, and he fell fast asleep. From the way his head fell, it looked like he lost consciousness. Josh placed his first two fingers over Eron's neck. "He has a pulse. He's not in a coma, just asleep. We can't do anything without him, so we should relax and rest up ourselves." At that, the heroes of the day scattered to their rooms, assuredly resting after a hard-fought battle.


	4. Chapter 3: All Roads Lead to Sinnoh

**Chapter 3: All Roads Lead to Sinnoh**

Fully refreshed from the battle with Zapdos, Ace was the first of the Beast Riders to wake the next morning. Not surprisingly, he was glued to his computer almost immediately, even eating breakfast in front of it. When Josh came knocking on his door over two hours later, the Entei rider wasn't even dressed. "Ho-oh has summoned us," he delivered the news once more. "It's been a day since our leader called for a meeting; best we don't wait any longer."

Ace sighed, then turned the computer monitor off. "I'm not even dressed yet!" he hollered.

"It's ten in the damn morning and you're still not dressed?!"

"Dude, yesterday was tiring--I just about passed out from all the lightning in the air. Gimme a break!"

The arguing at Ace's door continued for almost fifteen minutes before the other riders found Josh seemingly talking to a wall there. He finally opened up after getting dressed.

"It is a sin to defy Ho-oh's words," Eron said to Ace. "No time for games now, we must scale the Tin Tower again."

"Gimme a damn break, I'm still a little tired from yesterday!!" Ace screamed loud enough to disturb people inside the rooms both directly east and west of his. He came out of the room in his usual red light armor. The group exited campus, mounted their Beasts, and raced off toward the northeast, toward Tin Tower.

About halfway toward the tower, after leaping over a large hill, Aravan noticed Shalin and Midori were nowhere to be found, but kept to himself about it. He knew she wouldn't run off without a reason, but he couldn't help wear a look of worry on his face the rest of the ride to the sacred structure. He told Suicune to pick up the pace, which it did. When the other riders saw Suicune moving faster, their Beasts raced alongside, the tower coming into visibility.

Just then, a green blur rushed by Ace on the right. He sped ahead to discover Shalin was pushing Midori as hard as she could run, all the way up to unsafe Extreme Speeds. The Beast kicked up a large amount of dust in the sudden deceleration upon reaching the tower. The dust didn't clear until after the others arrived behind her. "What's the big rush?" Ace asked. Shalin's face was red; it was red with anger and frustration.

"Ecruteak's Dance Hall is gone, that's what!" she cried. "I used to go there every week! But now...burned to the ground by fire and lightning! All because of that freak on Zapdos!" Her cry turned into a scream. "In the name of Ho-oh, I swear that I will kill that woman with these hands and this whip!!" That out of her mouth, she started crying again. When the Beasts trod up the spiraling ramp on the inside of the tower, Shalin and Midori lagged way behind, rider in great sorrow over the loss of the dance hall.

Midori's rider felt slightly better upon seeing Ho-oh perched at the top of the tower. "Shalin's feeling a bit angry at the destruction Zapdos and rider wreaked on the city," Aravan said to the bird. "The city's only Dance Hall was destroyed in yesterday's explosion, and she used to go there once a week to dance the night away."

"I understand her sorrow," the rainbow avion replied. "Losing something or someone you love very much can be an almost insurmountable hurdle to overcome. I have had to go through that the first time the humans hunted your Beasts down. Their success was not perfect, as they could not live apart from me, as slaves to power-hungry people. Now, to the reason why I called you here."

"I can form a reasonable explanation myself," Josh interrupted, "but please confirm why we are here again."

"That attack on Ecruteak City was just the beginning. Similar strikes are taking place all over the world. The balance of power among the Order has been loosened out of place; men are trying to reclaim the reins of history. You five are fine examples of how humans and Pokémon as powerful as your Beasts are supposed to act together. Some of the others, not so much."

"Like that brat on Zapdos," Shalin added.

"Precisely. They are hell-bent upon 'purging' the world of 'corrupt' trainers. What they really are doing is forcing anyone who is a match for them to come out and perish at their hands. Zapdos was not himself; I could tell that much. The bond of love and care between legend and guardian has shattered, reformed as a mental whip; a one-sided relationship with the rider as a slave-driver of sorts. The legends rage out of the power imbalance, and power-hungry humans in this faction intended to use that rage to brainwash them while their thinking was not clear. I, for one, am happy that as Beast Riders, you have not let that power get to your heads."

"Well, Josh let the speed get to his head many times before," Ace joked.

"You too, Ace, almost getting us the biggest speeding ticket in Ecruteak history!" Josh snapped back. "You're just as much of a speed freak as I am!"

"Only because your directions to the mall were slightly wrong--"

"Enough, you two boys," Ho-oh interrupted, bringing the argument to a sudden end. "Being bent on thrilling speed isn't wrong at all; you're encouraged to have harmless fun while not on duty. Don't think I forgot the time you spent in the field Beast riding after you dealt with Akuji, though the speeds you achieved were a bit unsafe. I've gone too far off on a tangent now; I need to explain what's going on and what you can do to stop this madness. Draw your weapons."

The Beast Riders did so, Ace even assuming a fighter's stance. "And why are we doing this?" Aravan asked.

"You may have noticed this by now, but there are hollows in the guards of your swords. Relics from the ancient war were placed in there, but were hidden away in remote areas of the Sinnoh region for safekeeping. And even if one were to know the locations of these relics, it would take both the appropriate Beast and the skill with that Beast to make it out alive with the relic. The places these relics rest in are dangerous labyrinths with traps only Beast and rider can cross, and only with the most cunning of minds."

Eron stood forth to accept his task, shooting an arrow into the sun. "So, where exactly are these labyrinths located, and what exactly do these things do?"

"I'm not sure; the Great Arceus never filled me in on those details. I did a couple times overhear him talking about it though, and this is what I can piece together. Listen carefully. Five shrines in Sinnoh are the entrances to these labyrinths; they will be easy to recognize because of the archaic building style and the wear on the structure itself. Now as to their locations, I do now know exactly where they are. What I do know, however, is that one lies atop a peak ravaged with lightning, making the naturally mountainous terrain even worse to travel."

"Sounds like my destination," Josh deduced.

"Another was carved inside an active volcano, this one radiating of flames so hot that most people who enter cannot breathe. The heat slowly melts the corpses of fallen adventurers away, but that process is often accelerated by lava splashing up as a result of the very powerful Pokémon that make their homes there."

"Ace, that sounds like where we're going," Entei reasoned.

"Another lies atop a high cliff far to the east, where heavy storms constantly batter the peninsula it lies on. Just making it through the intense winds is an accomplishment."

"Aravan, that sounds like where you and Suicune should go," Eron suggested. "If Zoltin were to try to fly there, we'd be blown out of the air from the sound of it."

"A fourth lies on a remote island far to the northeast, filled with a lush jungle all around, and a view of a mountain range in the distance. A place where all sorts of trees grow."

"That sounds vaguely familiar," Shalin replied.

"The final shrine floats above the highest peak in Sinnoh. Floating a thousand feet above the peak, it is only accessible by air."

"Blatantly obvious who goes there," Ace jeered, "seems how you're the only one who can fly." Eron remained silent.

"What sort of things are we to expect there?" Shalin asked Ho-oh.

"The labyrinths were designed specifically with the Beasts in mind. If you are familiar with all of the skills of your Beast, you have all the tools you need to uncover the relic inside. However, you cannot rely totally on your Beast. You must rely on both your Beast and your own skills. This is why you have been given swords and such."

"So I guess all that sparring we did will finally pay off, Josh!" Ace snickered.

"At least my arm or shoulder won't burn this time," Josh jeered back. He turned to Ho-oh. "Sinnoh's way north of here, past the desert even. How are we gonna get there?"

"I was getting to that. I'll create a rainbow, one your Beasts can carry you across. If you recall, I did this same thing taking you to Birth Island two years ago. Now, Ace, I believe I still owe you a reward for your change of attitude." After a rainbow shot out from the Tin Tower straight north and everyone was mounted on their Beasts, Ho-oh lowered its right wing next to Ace. "I'll give you and one of your friends a chance to fly across the sea to Sinnoh."

Excited to fly on the rainbow bird, he quickly chose Josh. Each one stood on one of Ho-oh's wings as it lifted them onto its back. "I feel honored to fly on you, Ho-oh," Josh complimented.

"No need to be formal with me at the moment," the avion replied. "Now, are you ready for a wild thrill ride?"

The two gripped Ho-oh tightly, not knowing what to expect. A white and yellow flame lit up on Ho-oh's tail feathers, flinging it ahead of the Beasts. As not to leave the others completely in the dust, the bird swooped up high above the rainbow walkway, flying erratically. Ace almost went flying after a sudden dive to loop around to the other side of the rainbow. Ace and Josh should have been scared of the incredible speed, but weren't--the joy of flying on Ho-oh overshadowed any fear of wild speed.

Keeping that in mind when a large city came into sight, the white and yellow flames on Ho-oh's tail turned blue and white, shooting it forward faster than a Charizard sprays a Flamethrower attack. Ace and Josh screamed out of both joy and fear, as if on a roller coaster about to go over the big hill. The extra speed gave Ho-oh time to land before the Beasts arrived just outside Jubilife City's borders. As the legendary Pokémon jumped off the rainbow, it disappeared.

"Do not take your Beasts into the city; they should wait outside it. And try to be quick about your stay here. You've come to obtain a Sinnoh region map from Tourist Information as well as ask around for clues as to the shrines' exact locations."

"Will do," Josh replied promptly, leaping from the legendary bird with Ace. At the moment they jumped off, Ho-oh sped away toward the south once more. The three remaining riders leaped off their Beasts and headed into town, Josh and Shalin leading the way.

---


End file.
